Article feed device



Ap i 1954 c. c. MCCAIN ETAL ARTICLE FEED DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 27, 1961 y AT 76/. E c N @w. a M w A Apr 1964 c. c. M CAIN ETAL ARTICLE FEED DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 27, 1961 IHI' INVEWTOIPS 6 Me 614w .8. L. WING/l7 A we R/wsr \Gr April 4. 1964 c. c. M CAIN ETAL 3,123,373

ARTICLE FEED DEVICE Filed Oct. 27, 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 m a w a v 5 3 g; S K, (E LII n n 6 f fil my 5 U a v, NTOR-S Q l/Vl/ 3 3 4, k 6.6.MCC'A/N FA 19.1. WRIGHT United States Patent 3,128,873 ARTICLE FEED DEVICE Cecil C. McCain, Glen Ellyn, and Ben L. Wright, Chicago,

Ill., assignors to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, a corporation of New York Filed Oct. 27, 1961, Ser. No. 148,197 1 Claim. (Cl. 198-219) The present invention relates to feeding devices and more particularly to an improvement in feeding devices of the reciprocatory type.

The primary object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for advancing articles in a step-by-step manner.

Another object of the invention is to provide a reciprocating feed device for feeding articles through a grit blasting machine to effectuate defiashing operations.

In the specific embodiment herein described, the reciprocatory feeding device according to the present invention is employed to advance a plurality of wire spring relay combs through a grit blasting cabinet to effect the removal of scale or the like from the wire spring portion of the relay combs, whereby a clean, finished surface thereon is procured.

A better understanding of the invention may be had by reference to the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the reciprocatory feeding device according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the device according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially on line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan View of a wire spring relay comb to which the specific embodiment of the invention is directed, and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view illustrating the relation of the grit blast nozzles to the articles being advanced through the grit blast cabinet.

Having reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the numeral 11 represents the longitudinal dimension of the grit blast cabinet 12 through which the articles 41 are advanced by the reciprocatory feeding device according to the present invention. Secured to portion 14 of cabinet 12 by bolts 15 is a bracket 16 for supporting a motor 17, which in turn is fastened to the bracket 16 by bolts 18.

Keyed to the lower end of a shaft 19 of motor 17 is a lever arm 21 which carries adjacent its free extremity a roller 22 adapted to ride in the groove 23 of a member 24 secured by bolts or other securing means 25 (FIG. 3) to the cross member 26 of a T-shaped reciprocatory member 27 comprising the cross member 26 and a depending stem portion 28. As indicated in FIG. 1, the member 27 is supported for reciprocatory movement upon pairs of rollers 29 cooperating with the cross member 26 on each side of the stem portion 28. The rollers 29 are appropriately mounted in brackets 31 and 32. The bracket 31 is fixed to the bracket 16, and the bracket 32 is secured to the supporting angle member 33 attached to the cabinet 12.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, an impeller blade 34 is carried in a floating manner by the stem portion 28 of T-shaped member 27. The stem portion 28 is bifurcated at each end to receive the blade 34. The blade 34 is provided near each end with a vertically directed slot 35 which cooperates with a pin 36 fixed in each bifurcated end of the stem portion 28. Thus, the blade 34 is impelled reciproeatively by the T-shaped member 27, through the instrumentality of pins 36, and blade 34 is permitted a predetermined amount of vertical movement because of the slots 35 therein, for a purpose which will hereinafter appear.

Disposed below the impeller blade 34 and in cooperative relation therewith, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, are a pair of supporting members or rack bars 37 and 38, so spaced apart as to permit the impeller blade 34 to operate substantially intermediate therebetween. The rack bars 37 and 38 are securely attached to the stationary frame member 39, and are bevelled at their upper edges to support with a minimum of surface area the articles to be advanced through the cabinet 12.

In the present embodiment of the invention, the article to be advanced is illustrated in FIG. 4 and comprises a wire spring relay comb 41, wherein a plurality of wires 42 are molded into a dielectric supporting portion 43. As indicated in FIG. 3, the rack bars 37 and 38 are spaced apart a distance commensurate with the portion 43 to present substantially the entire exposed length of the wires 42 to the grit blasting operation.

To achieve the object of the present invention, the rack bars 37 and 38, as shown in FIG. 1, are provided on the upper edges thereof with a plurality or series of serrations 44 simulating ratchet teeth to prevent backward movement of the articles or combs 41 after they have been advanced each step. The serrations 44 on each rack bar 37 and 38 are aligned with each other to coact with combs 41 in a balanced manner.

The bottom edge of the impeller blade 34 is also pro vided with a corresponding plurality of impellers or serrations 45, likewise simulating ratchet teeth, adapted to engage the articles or combs 41 to impel them forward to advance them in a step-by-step manner. When the articles or combs 41 are fed onto the supporting members or rack bars 37 and 38 in any suitable manner (at the left end of FIG. 1) the impeller blade 34 upon moving leftwardly under the influence of the drive motor 17, as will presently appear, will cause its leftmost impeller or serration 45 to be presented immediately behind the article or comb 41 (that is, to the left, as viewed in FIG. 1) so that during the ensuing rightward movement of the impeller blade 34, the leading face 46 of the impeller or serration 45 will engage the left side of the comb 41 and move or advance it to a position in front of the next succeeding pair of serrations 44 of the rack bars 37 and 38. Because the serrations 44 are fixed, backward movement of the combs 41 is prevented when the impeller blade 34 is moved leftwardly. Thus, upon the return of the impeller blade 34 to its leftward position, the impellers or serrations 45 will engage newly presented comb 41, as well as the previously advanced comb 41, and then upon the rightward movement of the impeller blade 34, both combs 41 will be advanced simultaneously, and so on until every impeller or serration 45 will engage and advance an article or comb 41. It will be observed that the impellers 45 are conformed so as to ride up readily on and over the article 41 during the leftward movement of the impeller blade 34, being permitted to do so by the pin 36 and slot 35 arrangement, previously described, to give the impeller blade 34 a simulated floating action. Thus it will be seen that the impeller blade 34 which is a relatively long member rests on the articles 41 and serves as a feed bar to advance the row of articles on the supporting bars 37 and 38 step by step as the impeller blade is reciprocated.

Longitudinal reciprocative motion is imparted to T- shaped member 27 (and hence impeller blade 34) by the motor 17. The motor 17 is of the reversing type whereby the lever arm 21 is oscilalted through a angle to effect the reciprocation of T-shaped member 27. Arm 21 carries a pair of switch actuating elements 47 and 48, whereby when the arm 21 is rotated clockwise (as viewed in FIG. 2) the switch element 47 will actuate a microswitch 49 to initiate counterclockwise rotation of arm 21, and then when an arm 21 has rotated 180 counterclockwise, the switch element 48 will actuate a microswitch 51 to initiate clockwise rotation.

As previously mentioned, arm 21 carries a roller 22 which rides in the groove 23 of member 24 attached to the T-shaped member 27 so that, upon oscillation of arm 21 by the motor 17, the roller 22 will exert a carnrning action against the sides of groove 23 to impart reciprocatory movement to the T-shaped member 27.

Having reference to FIG. 5, there is illustrated the relationship between the feeding means according to the present invention and the grit blast nozzles in the grit blast cabinet. Appropriately positioned below the rack bars 37 and 38 and substantially parallel thereto is a T-beam 52 securely supported in the cabinet 12. Located at predetermined intervals along the T-beam 52 and secured thereto are a plurality of nozzle supporting brackets 53 to which are adjustably supported in appropriate manner the nozzles 54 and 55, preferably altermating above and below the articles or combs 41. A guide means 56 may be provided for guiding the wires 42 of the combs 41.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiment thereof herein illustrated and described, but is capable of other applications within the scope and spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

A device for feeding articles having a body portion and reduced end portions extending therefrom comprismg:

a pair of parallel supporting bars mounted in spaced relation to each other and engageable with the end portions for supporting the article with the body portion positioned between the bars, said bars having upwardly directed aligned projections for holding the articles against reverse movement and having sloping surfaces for guiding the articles upwardly and over said projections;

an elongated feed bar disposed above and in parallel relation to said supporting bars for holding the articles on the supporting bars and having d0wnwardly directed projections for holding the article against reverse movement and having sloping surfaces for raising the feed bar and the projections over the articles in response to relative movement between the feed bar and the articles;

means for supporting said feed bar for reciprocatory movement parallel to said supporting bars and for limited vertical movement; and

means for reciprocating said feed bar through a predetermined distance to effect a step by step feeding movement of the articles on said supporting bars.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,564,629 Ruth Dec. 8, 1925 1,689,839 Parker Oct. 30, 1928 2,557,170 Bjorlo June 19, 1951 2,748,635 Morgan June 5, 1956 2,757,842 Gaubert Aug. 7, 1956 2,873,845 Kross Feb. 17, 1959 

